· August 5, 2011

IO’s week in review

A Channel 3 News review of Kasich’s travels by state plane shows that he is on pace to quadruple the amount of money that his predecessor, former Gov. Ted Strickland, spent on state planes in his last year in office. “Gov. Kasich is using the state plane as a taxi cab and saying taxpayers and costs be damned,” said Dale Butland of Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank in Columbus. In the first six months of this year, Channel 3 News found that Kasich took 38 trips on state planes at a cost of more than $53,000.  If you add 12 trips by staff, that $53,000 jumps to more than $64,000. By comparison, Strickland flew 17 times in state planes in all of 2010 at a cost to taxpayers of about $27,000.

According to IO’s review, and the history of ballot initiatives compiled by the Secretary of State’s Office entitled “Amendment and Legislation; Proposed Constitutional Amendments, Initiated Legislation, And Laws Challenged By Referendum,” Ohio’s constitution was amended on September 3, 1912 to permit ballot initiatives and referenda.  Since that time, twelve (12) referenda have been held on laws passed by the General Assembly and in all 12 cases, the ballot language specified that a “no” vote was a vote to repeal the legislation in question. Of the 12 referenda submitted to the voters, 10 measures were rejected by the voting public, while only 2 were upheld. Said IO President Janetta King: “When it comes to referenda ballot language, Ohio history could not be clearer.  In every single instance where a law passed by the General Assembly was submitted to the voters for approval or rejection, those wishing to repeal the legislation voted ‘no’, while those desiring to uphold the

After almost eight hours, the Ohio Ballot Board approved wording for the challenge to the state’s new union law when it appears on the ballot this November. ABC6/Fox28 News’ Dana Jay reports that voting ‘Yes’ means is a vote in support of the Law. A  ‘No’ vote is a vote to repeal the Union Law.

The impacts of Kasich’s budget continues to be felt by cities and towns as they struggle to deal with deep cuts and are faced with deciding where to make cuts to their budgets.  What is becoming clear is that Kasich’s budget will jeopardize the public safety of our communities.

Candidate Kasich attacked former Gov. Ted Strickland for not creating jobs and for using one-time money to kick the state’s budget problems down the road. Governor Kasich balanced his budget by using one-time money from the sale of public assets and by kicking the revenue shortfall down the food chain and onto the backs of local governments. Instead of creating jobs, the budget ensures job losses, at least in the public sector. After his victory last November, Mr. Kasich said Ohioans could get on his bus or be run over by it. At the same time, he asked to be warned if it appeared he was about to run over a cliff. It appears that the best seats on the bus are reserved for wealthy interests. And the cliff ahead, if the governor can see the signs, is the lack of job creation.